THE GENESEE FAKMEE. 



natural laws are divine in tlieir origin,) may be a crime, and is generally a fault. Infinite 

 Wisdom is not the friend of ignorance, but of knowledge ; and the clergymen and pious 

 persons who do not exert themselves to promote the universal study of chemistiy and 

 other branches of natural science, fall far short in their duty. Why continue a deep 

 shade between the human soul and its God ? Physical man must look through nature 

 to see the Divinity beyond ; and no one can diligently study natural phenomena, as the 

 shepherds of old watched the constellations at night, and not become Jess an animal, and 

 more a Man. 



The extreme divisibility/ and perfect soluhility of matter prepare and adapt it to the 

 uses of the scientific husbandman in feeding his growing crops and growing animals. 

 There are a thousand ways in which the extreme divisibility of solid matter may be 

 demonstrated. If a particle of silver only the one-hundredth part of a line, or the 

 twelve-hundredth part of an inch in extent, be dissolved in nitric acid, it >vill render 

 distinctly milky 500 cubic inches of a clear solution of common salt. Hence the magni- 

 tude of each atom of silver can not exceed, but must fall far short 'of a billionth of a 

 cubic line. To render the idea of this degree of division more distinct, says Sir RocEiiT 

 Kane, " it may be stated that, a man to reckon with a watch, counting day and night, 

 a single billion of seconds, would roqiiire 31,G75 years." In the organi-zcd kingdoms of 

 nature even this excessive tenuity is far surpassed. An Irish girl has spun linen yam so 

 fine that a pound was 1432 miles in length, and of which, consequently, 17 lbs. 13 oz. 

 would girt the globe. A distinctly visible portion of this thread could not have weighed 

 more than the one hundred and twenty-seven-raillionth of a grain ; and yet each threa.l 

 contained many fibres of flax, and each fibre was a mass of many cells, and each coll 

 was composed of several distinct elementary bodies, such as. carbon, oxygen, hydrogen, 

 and the incombustible minerals Avhich appear as ashes when flax is burnt. !Micrc scopes 

 have revealed organized creatures so small that it is said a million of them in one mass 

 presents an object too small to be seen by the naked eye ! Although we question the 

 entire accuracy of this statement, yet, that animalculre have a perfect organization, and 

 their circulation of blood and its particles are as complex as those of the elej^hant, there 

 can be no reasonable doubt. We should never forget that both the astronomer and the 

 microscopist are indebted to art and science for the optical instruments that reveal 

 planets and suns in the far off" regions of the heavens, and living things in air and water, 

 and their remains in rocks and mountains, before unknown. The divisibility of matter 

 and its plasticity being comprehended, we are prepared to consider its solubility in water. 



The laws which govern the solution of solids are not sufliciently known to admit of 

 generalization. They are, however, resorted to in chemical researches and analyses, 

 with eminent success. As was stated in the January number, the 2')ulverization, or com- 

 minution of solids invariably promotes their solution in water ; but why chalk will not 

 dissolve, and why the muriate of lime will, are alike unknovrn. A critical knowledge of 

 the relative solubility of different substances is exceedingly valuable to the chemist ; nay, 

 without this information, he can not be regarded as worthy of the title of chemist. 

 Water is only one of many liquids used to dissolve both simple and compound bodies ; 

 acids, fused alkalies, ether, alcohol, and oils, are among the more common solvents, 

 which are often aided by heat in the laboratory. Water, however, is now regarded as 

 an universal solvent — dissolving all minerals Avhen finely divided. Decaying vegetable 

 and animal substances on the surface of the ground, yield carbonic acid and others to 

 water, which greatly augments its solvent powers. It is sometimes charged with min- 

 eral acids, especially sulphuric, or the oil of vitriol. This acid is formed by the decom- 

 position of iron pyrites, which is a compound of sulphur and iron. In this process the 

 oxygen of the air or in water combines chemically with sulphur in the proportion of 24 

 parts of oxygen to IG of sulphur. There are springs in Monroe county, N. Y., which 

 contain sulphuric acid enough to render the water quite sour. Water charged with tliis 



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